In war times, information manipulation and disinformation thrive. As our Ukrainian colleagues experienced in the most tragic way, the mechanisms for information manipulation that Russia created years ago have become a powerful instrument of war.

Foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), such as disinformation, increase polarisation and divide communities, and constitute direct attacks against democratic institutions and values. It is absolutely crucial that we combine and internationalise our efforts to fight this threat.

One of the best antidotes is to have a vibrant and autonomous civil society, as well as professional and independent journalism. The EEAS strives continuously to strengthen the ability of media and civil society actors to counter information manipulation and interference.

This is where the Connecting Media Communities project comes in: we must make media communities resilient against FIMI and disinformation, so that they can nurture each other, share experiences and work on common projects, across boundaries, across regions.

The Connecting Media Communities project began earlier this year on 24 and 25 February in Sarajevo, marking one year since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It gathered 100 journalists, fact-checkers, media professionals and academics from the Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership countries, Middle East, North Africa and beyond for a public event on disinformation in times of war and a needs assessment exercise for the media communities.

Based on this experience, the project then brought journalists from 11 countries to Poland and Ukraine in June 2023. The event allowed participants to document Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, share experiences with their Polish and Ukrainian counterparts, and join trainings on ethical war reporting and dealing with trauma.

In Chişinău, over 80 media representatives from the Western Balkans, Middle East, Africa, South America and Asia had the opportunity to discuss the challenges of disinformation and information manipulation faced by media today. The training consisted of discussion panels during which the participants exchanged best practices on fact-checking, data gathering during elections and creation of healthy media ecosystem. The participants also led hands on workshops which included the use of AI for fact-checking, resilience-building techniques through media literacy interventions and alternative ways of reaching the audiences. The last day of the training featured a Pop Culture vs Disinfo Challenge, an idea generation workshop, and a simulation exercise testing the performance of independent media operating in risk environments, such as during conflict or in authoritarian regimes.

One of the highlights of the training in Chişinău was the ‘Echoes of War’ exhibition, which featured as the opening of the two day event. It featured photographs by Syrian photojournalist Omar Sanadiki depicting two distant, yet intertwined wars in Syria and in Ukraine. The photos in Ukraine were shot in June this year, during the second phase of the project, and were brought to Chişinău by the EEAS as a collaborative project with the photographer.

The EEAS will continue to provide a space for media communities from different regions to exchange best practices, better understand FIMI and disinformation, and together with the representatives of media communities strengthen the resilience of our societies.